Analytical Evaluation of k–Anonymity Algorithm and Epsilon-Differential Privacy Mechanism in Cloud Computing Environment

Expected and unexpected risks in cloud computing, which included data security, data segregation, and the lack of control and knowledge, have led to some dilemmas in several fields. Among all of these dilemmas, the privacy problem is even more paramount, which has largely constrained the prevalence and development of cloud computing. There are several privacy protection algorithms proposed nowadays, which generally include two categories, Anonymity algorithm, and differential privacy mechanism. Since many types of research have already focused on the efficiency of the algorithms, few of them emphasized the different orientation and demerits between the two algorithms. Motivated by this emerging research challenge, we have conducted a comprehensive survey on the two popular privacy protection algorithms, namely K-Anonymity Algorithm and Differential Privacy Algorithm. Based on their principles, implementations, and algorithm orientations, we have done the evaluations of these two algorithms. Several expectations and comparisons are also conducted based on the current cloud computing privacy environment and its future requirements.